[plug] Filename star

[Subba Rao]

On  0, Brad Campbell <brad at seme.com.au> wrote:
> Subba Rao wrote:
> > 
> > I have noticied a meta character named file in the root's home directory and another user's
> > home directory. They were created on December 23rd. The file ownership permissions are
> > perfectly normal. The dreaded meta-character is '*'.
> > 
> > To remove this I did,
> > 
> > $ rm -i *
> > 
> > and got rid of it. I cannot imagine doing,
> > 
> > $ rm *
> 
> Try rm * -rf as root from / to put a smile on yer dial ;p)
> ask me how I know..
> 
> should have been rm \* -r.. Oh well.. thank god for backups..
> 

Thanks for the suggestions. When I am uncertain about the files to be deleted,
I prefer to use the '-i' option. That would atleast guarantee the safety of my
other files. I have learnt quite a bit too, regarding the various techniques to
delete the meta-character named files.

I guess it is time to implement the 'wastebasket' idea on linux users $HOME.

Thanks everyone.

Subba Rao
subb3 at attglobal.net
http://pws.prserv.net/truemax/

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